


Where my home was meant to be

by RedBlackOwl (Shaylayn)



Series: It's all Madara's fault... [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Time Travel, temporary canon character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-26 18:16:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20934611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaylayn/pseuds/RedBlackOwl
Summary: Senju Tobirama is dead.Madara should be glad, Izuna can finally rest in peace.But he isn't, because at one point he has loved Tobirama. Before he left Konoha and everything else behind.Now he doesn't know how do deal with it, with the fact that there is nothing left.





	Where my home was meant to be

**Author's Note:**

> The kinda-sorta-"prequel" to my fic A Dangerous Souvenir but can be read on it's own. 
> 
> I never actually thought I would finish this but apparently I did. I'm very surprised... I'm also not completely happy with all parts, but this was mostly supposed to be a little experiment for me, so I'm still kind of proud of it.
> 
> And because I'm bad at tagging if I missed something that should be tagged tell me please. 
> 
> No beta for this and the title is from the song "Farewell" by Deine Lakaien.

He comes to with a startled jerk, drawing in a sudden breath which turns into a coughing fit that shakes his whole body. 

\---

Madara was pacing in circles around the cave, tucking at his hair, eyes wide and wild. 

Zetsu was standing of to the side, watching him with a frown on their face. They had believed the knowledge of Senju Tobirama’s death would please the Uchiha. 

They hadn’t thought any of it when Madara had demanded to know where it happened. They had told him, they had not seen a reason not to. It seemed as if that had been a mistake.

\---

After getting his breathing back under control, Madara looks around himself to take in his surroundings. 

He knows this room, it had been his at the old Uchiha compound before they moved to Konoha after it was build. 

Next he throws his senses out searching for the one chakra signature he can find. The other two too far away for him to feel. 

(He has never envied Tobirama his ridiculously large range. The thought of constantly being bombarded with so much information alone had hurt his head. 

Now he wishes that he had a similar range, if only so that he can make sure that Hashirama and Tobirama are safe and  _ alive _ .)

He finds Izuna easily. His brother is puttering around the kitchen, probably making breakfast and singing to himself. Just like he had always done. 

Taking a few more deep breaths, Madara cardes his fingers through his thick hair, trying to calm his hammering heart and convince himself that, yes, he had really done it. 

The seal had worked, he had gone back in time. 

Now he can make it  _ right. _

\---

Zetsu’s words were still ringing in his ears. 

_ “Senju Tobirama is dead.” _

It was unfathomable. Unbelievable. Tobirama couldn’t be dead. The whole notion was ridiculous. 

(But so had been the idea of Hashirama ever dying and he was gone too. Madara was the last one left and…)

Madara had seen the evidence through. He had demanded to know what had happen and where. Zetsu had told him and Madara had been one his way only a moment later. 

He regretted it deeply. The sight of Tobirama’s bloody and broken body now forever burned into his mind. 

Zetsu had tried to appease him. Telling him that once their plan had succeeded everything would be alright again.

“You and everyone else will have their peace, they will have their perfect world and all those who are dead will be back.”

But Madara hadn’t calmed, hadn’t let himself be pacified. He had been angry. So, so angry. 

Zetsu had promised peace and a reunion with his brother and Madara wanted it, he wanted it so much he had abandoned the village and Hashirama and…

But instead he seemed to just keep on losing. First his brothers, one after the other they had died, his mother, then his father and then…  _ and then he lost Izuna _ , the faith of his clan, his dream and with it the village he helped found, then came Hashirama and his betrayal-

(It was a lie, Hashirama had done what he had to, Madara was not an idiot. He knew himself and even if Hashirama hadn’t known him as good as he always believed he did, he had known that Madara’s rage was too great to never be a danger to Konoha and…)

-and now Tobirama. Gone forever from this world and Madara had thought he would be glad but… but…

It was too much.  _ It was all too much! _

\---

His hands are shaking. He curls them into fists trying to hide the shaking from his brother who is sitting in front of him at the table, nattering on about something Madara had not listen to. 

Instead he uses the time to drink in the sight of his brother, alive and unharmed and if Madara has his way, it will stay like this. 

He does not yet know when exactly he is. It is not surprising, Mito had warned him that there was no way to aim precisely.

What he knows is that his father is already dead, he is the clan head and Izuna is alive. It’s a time frame of roughly three years. It will be enough.  _ It has to be enough. _

“Aniki? Is everything ok?”

Izuna’s concerned voice tears him out of his dark thoughts and for a moment Madara can do nothing but stare. 

He watches as Izuna frowns and puts down his bowl, half rising, his mouth opening to repeat the question no doubt.

“No! No, everything is fine.”

Izuna blinks and sits down again, still frowning: “If you say so.”

Madara nods and thinks:  _ Nothing is fine, but it will be. Is has to. _

\---

Mito found him in Tobirama’s house. Sitting on the man’s futon, staring into nothing, basking in the lingering presence of a person that no longer existed. 

No one had yet started to pack Tobirama’s things away. He wondered vaguely what they would do with his lab and all those dangerous things in there. 

Madara couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that Tobirama would never come back here, would never shut himself in his lab again, forgetting the world outside until someone came to drag him back out. 

He was not sure how long he had been here, when Mito finally found him. He could feel her watching him and he wondered what she was thinking. 

“So”, she started after a long moment: “You heard.”

He twitched, turning his head to looked at her. She had squatted down in the doorway, her arm resting on her knees, the other supporting her head, its elbow resting half on her tight half on her knee. 

She looked ridiculous like that, it wasn’t a pose that was fitting for her and Madara wondered if this was something else that he hadn’t known because he hadn’t cared to learn. That Mito, for all she appeared like it, was not perfect. 

She sighed, when he didn’t answered: “Why are you here, Madara?”

_ Because Tobirama is dead and I should be glad, but aren’t. Because he is gone and I can’t seem to get over it. Because all the things I have done have lost me everything and gained me nothing. Because I love him. Because I still fucking love him and nothing I did had changed that. _

He didn’t say any of that out loud, instead he pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapped his arms around them like a child and buried his head in them, a sob tearing itself out of his throat.

He was just so tired. 

\---

It’s one month before Izuna’s death. 

Madara stares at the date incomprehensibly, barely able to believe that he has managed to arrive at such a perfect time. 

Mito had been convinced that it would be impossible to aim for any specific moment in time. She had warned him that he may arrive years before he would be able to change anything. 

But this?  _ This is the best possible thing that could have happen. _

(It is not so easy of course. The elders are still against peace, Izuna still believes that Hashirama’s frequent offers of peace are nothing but a ploy to lull the Uchiha in a false sense of security.

But Madara knows about the dissent in his clan. About the weariness of his clan members. He knows that there are already people thinking about defecting. 

He knows that if he is to ask the people who are fighting the war, who are losing their children, partners, parents, siblings and friends to a war without meaning, a war about revenge that just breeds more revenge, they are going to support him against the elders in a heartbeat.)

(He also knows that there are far more people in the Senju clan who think the same, than his people believe.)

\---

Madara couldn’t understand why Mito wasn’t attacking him, why she hadn’t tried to kill him the moment she arrived at Tobirama’s home. 

Why she hadn’t called for the Uchiha to handle him. 

Instead she listened to him as he told her everything that had happened since the day he left the village. Everything he had done, all the decisions he had made, about the stone tablet, the Moon Eye plan and Zetsu and how despite all he had given up, he was no closer than he had been at the beginning. 

She listened as the words purred out of his mouth unable to stop himself from breaking down and admitting defeat here in the home of the man who had killed his last little brother, who he loved more than nearly anything in this forsaken world, who was dead and would never ever come back, just like his brothers, like his parents,  _ like Izuna and Hashirama and _ …

_ This was not how it was supposed to be! _

When everything was said, when he had no more words to say, he had awaited her judgment. He wasn’t even sure what he expected her to do, but whatever it was would be better than  _ this. _

He couldn’t explain why Tobirama’s death had hit him so hard, why he couldn’t just accept it and go on with his plan. It was meant to give him back everything he lost; his brother, his clan, his best friend, his lover. It was supposed to grant him the peace they would never be able to achieve in a world that hungered for war. 

(He tried not to think about how he hadn’t achieved anything in the last seven years. How the world had gone on while he was stuck in a dream he couldn’t fulfil, just as much as he hadn’t been able to fulfil the one he had as a child.)

(Madara couldn’t understand what he had  _ done _ that the world  _ hated him so much _ .)

\---

Izuna is gapping at the mass of Uchiha standing at Madara’s back. All of them with their head held high, their desperation finally given a voice.

His brother has always been against peace. Madara knows that it’s partly because he truly believes that Hashirama means nothing good with his insistence on peace, but also partly because Izuna thinks he must protect the clan from Madara’s dream and his possible weakness in front of his former friend. 

Believing that Madara will never dare to make peace with the Senju if Izuna does not want it.

(And he is right. Madara has always followed his little brothers wishes. Has refused Hashirama’s proposal for peace time and again mainly because Izuna does not want it. 

And then, when Izuna had died he had asked again for Madara to never trust the Senju, to never make peace with them. So of course Madara hadn’t until his clan had basically forced him to.

This time through he will ignore Izuna’s demands, his wishes. He will make sure that Izuna does not die in a war without reason.)

The elders are here to, they are after all the real reason why they all have gathered here. 

They look over the crowd behind Madara and frown in disapproval, some even mutter under their breath about something and Madara does not need to be able to hear it to know what they are saying.

“What is the meaning of this?”, Elder Akihito asks, stepping forward. 

Madara doesn’t answer. They have never listen to him before, so they will not start to do so now. 

But the other clan members? Those they had always believed supported the war as wholeheartedly as them? Maybe they will finally make the elders  _ listen _ .

(And if they don’t then there are other ways. Madara has gotten a second chance. He is not going to let a bunch of old men destroy it.)

\---

Mito didn’t judge him and somehow that is worse than if she would. 

She didn’t forgive him and Madara is glad for it. He is pretty sure he would not be able to handle it if she would. 

What she did do trough, was calling him out on his plan: “It is a stupid one. Did you  _ really  _ believe that an illusion could ever life up to the real thing? And don’t get me started on all the logistical problems this would create. How are the people in their dreams supposed to  _ survive _ even one day without food or water?”

Madara had never thought about those things. They hadn’t been important. Getting his brother back, getting the peace he had dreamed about and never having to live through another tragedy was what had motivated him. 

He had never thought about all the faults in his plans. They had been something to cling to when everything else had fallen away. 

(And wasn’t that his fault too? Hadn’t he let himself get distracted by an impossible dream throwing everything he had away to chase after it?)

Mito sighed from where she was kneeling on the floor: “Maybe there is something I can do to help you.”

\---

The rebellion in the Uchiha Clan passes without any bloodshed or even a single fight. 

The elders fold like wet paper under the unrelenting force of all the Uchiha standing at Madara’s back. Unwilling to let this opportunity slip through their fingers. 

“We are no fools. We are not going to let the Senju do what they want with us. We are also not stupid enough to just let our guard down in front of them. But if Senju Hashirama’s words are true and if we can end this war without anyone else dying, than we want that.”

“You are just giving up! After all that our ancestors have suffered! Are you just going to spit on their graves?!”

“We are not going to forget their sacrifices. But for every revenge we get another one of us dies trying. All of those dead died to protect their loved ones and we throw those loved ones out on the battlefields to die trying to avenge them. No more, we are tired of losing those we love.” 

“Than we have to destroy the Senju…!”

“And how many of us have to die until it happens? How many of us will still be there in the end? Will it be worth it? Will we even be able to win against them? Or will it be them who destroy us? No, we have a chance to end it, Senju Hashirama is willing to make peace. The next clan head may not be so generous.”

“You can just…!”

“We can, and we will.”

\---

“Time Travel?”, he had asked shocked and disbelieving when Mito explained what she could do to help him. 

She looked back at him, something in her eyes Madara couldn’t name and said: “It was one of Tobirama’s latest obsessions. He didn’t have enough time to really work on it, but he always told me about it when he came visiting.”

“Why would he do something like that?” It was a stupid question of course, this was  _ Tobirama _ . When hadn’t the man tried to archive the impossible?

“For you I believe and for Hashirama.” She threw him a look. “He never got over your betrayal and when Hashirama died, well I think the only reason he didn’t completely lost it was because he believed he needed to make sure that Konoha doesn’t fall apart after all that was done to build it.”

Madara didn’t have anything to say to that. And really what could he have said? 

\---

Hashirama looks taken aback when they meet the next time for a fight, that is not really a fight as no Uchiha so much as rises their weapon. The only reason they have them drawn is because they are not letting themselves be vulnerable.

“Are you…? Really?”, Hashirama sounds painfully hopeful, Tobirama looks a bit skeptical but not disapproving. Maybe even somewhat relieved? 

Madara doesn’t focus on him through, he can’t. Not right now when he can’t let himself be distracted. 

(It had been bad with Izuna, he doubts that it will be any better with Tobirama.)

Izuna is fidgeting behind Madara, possibly sneering at the Senju before them. But Madara doesn’t care. He knows how this will go if they don’t make peace and he can’t take it a second time. 

(He does not want to compromise between his brother and lover. He wants them  _ both _ . 

And if he gets his best friend and peace between their clans too, that will be a nice bonus.)

\---

Mito led him to Tobirama’s laboratory. 

He knew the way of course, having dragged his lover out of it on occasion. Back when everything was mostly good.

(Before everything came crashing down on him. Before he believed that there was only one way to archive true and lasting peace. Before he thought that there was a way to have  _ everything _ . 

And now… now there was  _ nothing  _ left.)

Mito showed him Tobirama’s notes and experiments on time travel and like always before, Madara couldn’t make heads or tail of it. So he just nodded along as Mito explained them and told him about everything she still needed to do for it to actually work.

In the end she just huffed, when she realized that he had no idea what she was talking about and told him to stay put, as it would take a her a while to finish it. 

Madara didn’t care, there was nothing left for him to do anymore.

(He didn’t think about Zetsu or the plan he had given up everything for. He didn’t let himself dwell on the possibility of going back to the cave and hope that going forward with his plans would really give him back everything he lost.)

\---

Making peace is, in the end, surprisingly easy. 

The Senju do not make much of a fuss. Already used to the idea of peace thanks to their ecstatic clan head who had never spoke of anything else. 

(Madara had known about that of course. The only reason the Senju had been so wary the first time being Madara’s anger and rage and madness. His want to keep the fighting going until they or he and his clan were destroyed and that only the combined force of the Uchiha had brought him down.)

And once clear that peace will be a thing; Tobirama barrels right over everyone and bullies both his elders and those of the Uchiha into a treaty thats benefits both clans. 

Madara is a little flabbergast, it hadn’t happen like this the first time and while he knows that Tobirama may have not  _ believed _ in peace, but never not wanted it, it was still strange to see Tobirama talk right over everyone and more or less force the elders of both clans to agree to the terms he puts in the treaty.

(But it’s Hashirama’s beaming smiles and Madara’s proud and easy confidence that peace  _ will _ be a thing, no matter what, that eventually wins most of the elders over and soothes their frazzled nerves. Gives them the believe to be at least still somewhat in control. 

_ Fools _ .)

It takes half a year for the peace to be finalized, bespite Tobirama steamrolling over everyone and a bit longer for Konoha to be a more than an old and forgotten dream. But it is still sooner and simpler, with less bloodshed and deaths than the first time. 

Now Madara can breath a little easier, now the only thing left for it to be perfect, is for Tobirama to be by his side. 

\---

It took Mito nearly five weeks to get through all of Tobirama’s notes on his experiments and figure out where he had let off and how it worked and  _ then _ to finish it. 

“Just because I’m a sealing master does not mean that I can just pull a full working seal to travel through time out of my sleeve”, she told him when he had gotten impatient after a few days.

“You need to be patient if you want this to work. I can’t force you to stay here, of course, if you rather want to go back to your plans to destroy the world because you think it will somehow make everything right, than do that. I will not stop you.”

“You will not try to stop me from attempting to archive my plans?”, he had asked, taken aback. He had though she would rather kill him than let him leave again. 

Mito just gave him a look, a smile on her lips. 

“Trust me,  _ I _ don’t need to stop you. You will do that all on your own."

He had stared at her with wide, startled eyes.

After the five weeks it took Mito to finish the seal, she looked at him with serious eyes and said: “Do not mess this up. The amount of chakra needed to power this seal is more than any human could reasonably have. I will use the Kyuubi’s chakra to fuel it. So as long as you don’t want to enslave the Kyuubi again and somehow manage to recreate the seal, you only have this one chance.”

Madara cringed a little at the reminder of what he had done in his anger and disappointment and resentment and… he wasn’t even sure anymore why he had done anything. Somehow his reasoning had lost a lot of it’s meaning in the last weeks.

But he nodded his understandment and stepped into the circle of the seal when Mito ordered him to do so. 

He took a deep breath and let the power of the seal wash over him. There was nothing left to do but let the darkness claim him and hope that it would work.

(And maybe it was all a trick, maybe Mito did intent to kill him with this. It didn’t matter, not really, not anymore.)

\---

The village is build, they move into their new homes and more and more of the other clans follow them, joining them in their groundbreaking endeavor in making history. 

The only thing that doesn’t go anywhere is Madara’s attempts to win Tobirama’s affection and, hopefully, love. 

It’s frustrating. Madara doesn’t know if he is doing something wrong or if he actually changed to much and now Tobirama will  _ never _ love him again. 

He really hopes that is not the case. He is pretty sure that he will not  _ survive _ it if that is the case. 

So he mopes around his home, annoys the hell out of Izuna, worries Hashirama and tries fruitlessly to woo Tobirama. 

He doesn’t know what more he can do, but he does know that he can’t stop. The thought of not having Tobirama at his side is… unbearable. 

(But if Tobirama were to go and tell him to stop, that he is not interested. Then Madara will accept that. He wants Tobirama to love him because he  _ wants _ to, not because he believes he needs to for whatever reason he may come up with.

He really,  _ really _ hopes that Tobirama will not make him stop. He really doesn’t want to think about the possibility.)

\---

The first time they kissed was after Tobirama had confronted him a month after the founding of the village and offered Madara his life. 

“If you win, you can kill me”, he had said and Madara, still angry and grieving and losing the faith of his clan with every passing day, had accepted fully intended to go through with it and kill the other man.

Madara had, of course, won the fight. He was still stronger than Tobirama, Hashirama being, after all, the only one who could match and most likely beat him if he ever really fought. 

Tobirama had been lying on his back, beaten black and blue by Madara, blood tickeling from a scrap on his forehead, Madara’s hands around his neck. Not quite squeezing but certainly not gentle either.

Madara had stared at the other man, stared into his red eyes, that had looked back at him with resignation, acceptance and determination. Ready to face his dead with as much dignity as he could and quell Madara’s burning anger and hate.

And Madara… 

Madara hadn’t been able to do it. 

After everything he couldn’t kill Tobirama. Couldn’t just snap his neck and be done with it. He would finally having avenged Izuna’s death and maybe than he would be able to fully enjoy the peace that his brother never wanted and what had ultimately been his end. 

Madara wasn’t stupid enough not to realize that his refusal to make peace, because Izuna hadn’t wanted it, was what had killed his little brother in the end. It was just so much easier to blame everyone else. 

He had not killed Tobirama that day. 

Why he kissed him instead through, was not something he ever really understood. 

(He had never regretted it through, not even years later when he had betrayed the village and left everything behind.)

\---

In retroperspective Madara is aware how incredibly unhealthy their relationship had been. For both of them.

He doesn’t regret it, he can’t.

Not when it had led him, through a lot of terrible decisions, to where he is now. 

Tobirama is smiling at him. Looking shyly at Madara through his white lashes. 

(Madara has always been fascinated by the fact that even Tobirama's eyelashes are white.)

He is… shocked, happy, absolutely ecstatic. Tobirama has finally,  _ finally _ , accepted an invitation to have lunch. Madara hadn’t thought that Tobirama would accept this time, when he had never accepted before. He had hoped like he always did, that this would be the time..., but hadn’t believed it. 

But Tobirama had accepted and is now smiling at him, while Madara is wearing his stupidly wide eyed look. 

“Izuna told me that you… are actually trying to get my attention because you like me and… are not doing it to mock me or… something.”

Madara blinks: “You thought I was mocking you?”

Tobirama just shrugs, looking away: “I did not think you would be interested in someone like me. My looks are not… what people think as attractive.”

Fluffing up in offence, Madara scowls angrily: “They are all idiots. You are gorgeous. The most beautiful person I’ve ever seen!”

He falters a little, when he sees Tobirama’s wide eyed expression. “What?”, he asks defensively, feeling his face heat up. 

Tobirama just smiles at him a little helplessly. He is so wonderfully expressive, Madara hasn’t thought he would ever be threatened to that sight again. 

“So you...uh, lunch?”

Tobirama laughs at that and carefully reaches out to take his hand in a surprisingly bold move. Madara is pretty sure his heart is trying to break out of his chest, it’s beating so fast. But he just curls his fingers around Tobirama’s.

“Yes, let’s get lunch.”

\---

The first time around their life together had been tainted by anger and hate and to much death. 

They had loved each other, Madara doesn’t doubt that. But there had stood to much between them and any chance of happiness. 

Maybe, if Madara hadn’t let madness befall him, hadn’t thought that he could bring eternal peace to the world and had instead stayed in Konoha, maybe they could have moved past it and become happy.

But they hadn’t and Madara had left. Without a word, without a goodbye. 

He wondered sometimes what Tobirama had thought when he came home that day to an empty house. If he had waited for Madara to come home. If he had tried to find him with his sensing. If he had given himself a headache unfurling his senses to their limits trying to find Madara. 

He wondered what Tobirama had thought when Madara came back with the Kyuubi. When Madara and Hashirama had fought. When Hashirama very nearly succeeded in killing Madara. 

Mito had said that Tobirama had never stopped loving him, even when everything had said that Madara was a traitor, an enemy. Had turned their back on all of them, including Tobirama.

He wondered, but he does not dwell on it.

(Mito had told him that Tobirama would have followed him if he had asked. Madara doesn’t dare think about that.)

\---

“What are you thinking about?”

Madara blinks and looks up. Tobirama is standing before the couch Madara is sitting on, two steaming mugs of tea in his hands and a smile on his face. 

He takes the mug Tobirama offers him, lifting his other arm to let Tobirama press himself against Madara’s side, pulling his feet up and halfway under himself. 

“Nothing”, Madara says belatedly. Tobirama just huffs: “Didn’t feel like nothing. There were a lot of sad feelings swirling in your chakra.”

He tips his head back to look up at Madara, concern shining in his eyes: “Really. What were you thinking about?”

Madara hesitates, looking down at his fianceé…

(He had been afraid that Tobirama would say no. He had been so happy when he had said  _ yes _ .)

… wondering how much he can say.

In the end he just says: “I’m just… thinking about us and how easily it could have been that we never would have this.”

Tobirama watches him for a moment, before he gives him a soft smile and asks: “Thinking about what happened before?”

Madara blinks, taken aback: “What?”

Tobirama huffs again: “Did you think I would no realise it? That you are from the future?”

“Of course not! Why would I?”, he squawks, then he snaps his mouth shut realizing that he just confirmed it. 

“If it’s any consolation; I don’t think anyone else has found out. And it’s not like you are obvious, but… there were a lot of small details that, in retroperspective, make a lot of sense if one goes with the assumption that you are from the future.”   


Not knowing what to say to that, Madara doesn’t. He shouldn’t be surprised through. This is Tobirama, if anyone would find out about Madara coming from the future, it would be him.

For a few moments, both of them are silent. Then Tobirama asks: “Why?”   


“Huh?”

“Why did you came back? What has happened that you thought jumping through time would be a good idea?”

Madara blinks and thinks…

_ Izuna in pain from the wound Tobirama gave him, choking on his own blood, asking Madara to never trust the Senju, to keep the fighting going… _

_ The dark whispers that follow him wherever he goes, the only place they can’t reach him being Tobirama’s lab, digging into his mind and promising a world where there is no war, no death, no pain… _

_ Hashirama’s face, twisted in dark rage over Madara’s betrayal: “How could you, Madara? Our dream, our village,  _ my brother.  _ Was it  _ worth  _ it?”... _

_ Tobirama’s broken and bloody body, surrounded by those of his enemies, the one who felt him laying in a puddle of their own blood still holding their sword…  _

He takes a shuddering breath: “To much went wrong. I… I don’t want to talk about it.”

Tobirama searches his face for a moment before he, apparently finding what he is looking for, nods: “Very well. If you ever want to talk about it through I will listen.”

“Thank you. Have I told you how much I love you recently?”

Tobirama laughs: “Not in the last half hour, no. I love you too.”

He shifts a little to better lean up and press their lips together in a kiss. Madara curls an arm around him to steady him and pull Tobirama closer, kissing back.

(In the end he has succeeded. In the end he had managed to change the past and make a better future. 

And maybe it was selfish, but he couldn't care less. Not when right here, right now he had everything he wanted. When both Hashirama and Izuna were happy and alive in the village he had dreamed about as a child. 

Not when he had the man he loved in his arms, loving him back. 

And while he could not be sure that nothing would ever go wrong, no one could predict the future after all, Madara would be damned if he didn’t do everything in his power to make sure that he kept this. 

And nothing, no god or demon, would be able to stop him.)

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it!
> 
> I also hope I got it across that Tobirama's death is not the only reason why Madara did jumped back in time, just the final drop that let everything spill over. As I really didn't mean to disregard Izuna's importance and his influence on Madara's decisions.


End file.
